Review of Quantification of Fracture Characteristics Based on Topological Analysis

Hyorok Son; Young-Seog Kim

doi:10.9720/kseg.2021.1.001

All Issue

2021 Vol.31, Issue 1 Next Page

Review

Review of Quantification of Fracture Characteristics Based on Topological Analysis 위상기하 분석법을 이용한 단열계 특성 정량화의 소개

31 March 2021. pp. 1-17

PDF XML

Abstract

It is important to evaluate the fracture network in a rock volume because fractures control the ground conditions and fluid flow characteristics. Therefore, various attempts have been made to quantify fracture networks to better understand ground and flow conditions. The use of fracture density alone (a quantitative parameter based on geometric analysis) does not fully explain the evolution of fracture networks, or quantify the spatial relationship (e.g. connectivity) of fractures in a rock mass. Therefore, the need for fracture network characterization based on topological analysis has recently emerged. In Korea however, the topological analysis of fracture networks within a rock mass has rarely been studied. As such, the definition of the topological analysis of fracture networks and the graph theory related to the topological analysis are briefly summarized in this study. We also introduce an application method for these analyses to fracture characterization. If the topological method is used for the analysis of fracture networks, it can also be adopted to analyze fluid flow characteristics of groundwater, characterize petroleum reservoirs, and analyze the evolution of a fracture network. In addition, topological analysis can be useful for site selection of major facilities such as nuclear waste disposal sites because it can be used to evaluate the stability of the potential sites.

Keywords

fracture network

topology

graph theory

fracture connectivity

fluid flow

암체 내에 발달하는 단열계는 지반의 특성뿐만 아니라 유체의 유동특성을 제어하기 때문에 이들을 평가하는 것은 매우 중요하다. 따라서 이들을 정량화하기 위한 다양한 시도가 있어왔다. 그러나 기하학적 분석을 통해 획득한 정량적 매개변수인 단열밀도만으로는 단열계의 진화를 설명하기 어렵고, 단열계의 연결패턴 같은 암석 내 단열의 공간적 관계를 정량화하기 어렵다. 따라서 최근 기존에 이뤄지던 기하학적 분석과 함께 위상기하 분석을 통한 단열계의 특성화 필요성이 대두되고 있다. 그러나 암체에의 다양한 적용성에도 불구하고, 아직 국내에서는 단열계의 위상기하 분석이 지질매체에 적용되어 연구된 적은 거의 없다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 최근 단열연구 분야에서 주목받고 있는 단열계 위상기하 분석의 정의와 개념, 위상기하 분석과 관련된 그래프이론, 그리고 이들을 적용하는 방법에 대해 간략히 소개하고자 한다. 이러한 위상기하학적 연구방법이 단열계의 분석에 사용된다면 암체 내 단열을 따라 흐르는 지하수나 석유 저류암의 유동특성과 단열계의 진화를 정량화하는데 유용하게 사용될 수 있다. 또한 방사성폐기물처분장과 같이 유체의 유동특성이 중요한 주요 시설물의 부지선정 등에 유용하게 활용될 수 있을 것이다.

키워드

단열계

위상기하학

그래프이론

단열 연결성

유체유동

References

Adler, P.M., Thovert, J.F., 1999, Fractures and fracture networks, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 431p. 10.1007/978-94-017-1599-7

Balberg, I., Anderson, C.H., Alexander, S., Wagner, N., 1984, Excluded volume and its relation to the onset of percolation, Physical Review B, 30(7), 3933-3943. 10.1103/PhysRevB.30.3933

Berkowitz, B., Balberg, I., 1993, Percolation theory and its application to groundwater hydrology, Water Resources Research, 29(4), 775-794. 10.1029/92WR02707

Bisdom, K., Gauthier, B.D.M., Bertotti, G., Hardebol, N.J., 2014, Calibrating discrete fracture-network models with a carbonate three-dimensional outcrop fracture network: implications for naturally fractured reservoir modeling, American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin, 98(7), 1351-1376. 10.1306/02031413060

Clarke, B.A., Burbank, D.W., 2011, Quantifying bedrock-fracture patterns within the shallow subsurface: implications for rock mass strength, bedrock landslides, and erodibility, Journal of Geophysical Research, 116(F4), F04009. 10.1029/2011JF001987

Dimmen, V., Rotevatn, A., Peacock, D.C.P., Nixon, C.W., Nærland, K., 2017, Quantifying structural controls on fluid flow: insights from carbonate-hosted fault damage zones on the Maltese Islands, Journal of Structural Geology, 101, 43-57. 10.1016/j.jsg.2017.05.012

Duffy, O.B., Nixon, C.W., Bell, R.E., Jackson, C.A.L., Gawthorpe, R.L., Sanderson, D.J., Whipp, P.S., 2017, The topology of evolving rift fault networks: single-phase vs multi-phase rifts, Journal of Structural Geology, 96, 192-202. 10.1016/j.jsg.2017.02.001

Euler, L., 1758, Elementa doctrinae solidorum, Novi Commentarii Academiae Scientiarum Petropolitanae, 4, 109-140.

Giorgioni, M., Iannace, A., D'Amore, M., Dati, F., Galluccio, L., Guerriero, V., Mazzoli, S., Parente, M., Strauss, C., Vitale, S., 2016, Impact of early dolomitization on multi-scale petrophysical heterogeneities and fracture intensity of low-porosity platform carbonates (Albian-Cenomanian, southern Apennines, Italy), Marine and Petroleum Geology, 73, 462-478. 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2016.03.011

Healy, D., Rizzo, R.E., Cornwell, D.G., Farrell, N.J.C., Watkins, H., Timms, N.E., Gomez-Rivas, E., Smith, M., 2017, FracPaQ: a MATLAB^TM toolbox for the quantification of fracture patterns, Journal of Structural Geology, 95, 1-16. 10.1016/j.jsg.2016.12.003

Huang, Q., Angelier, J., 1989, Fracture spacing and its relation to bed thickness, Geological Magazine, 126(4), 355-362. 10.1017/S0016756800006555

Jing, L., Stephansson, O., 1997, Network topology and homogenization of fractured rocks, In: Jamtveit, B., Yardley, B.W. (Eds.), Fluid Flow and Transport in Rocks: Mechanisms and Effects, Chapman & Hall, 191-202. 10.1007/978-94-009-1533-6_11

Jolley, S.J., Barr, D., Walsh, J.J., Knipe, R.J., 2007, Structurally complex reservoirs: an introduction, Geological Society Special Publication, 292, 1-24. 10.1144/SP292.1

Korneva, I., Bastesen, E., Corlett, H., Eker, A., Hirani, J., Hollis, C., Gawthorpe, R.L., Rotevatn, A., Taylor, R., 2018, The effects of dolomitization on petrophysical properties and fracture distribution within rift-related carbonates (Hammam Faraun Fault Block, Suez Rift, Egypt), Journal of Structural Geology, 108, 108-120. 10.1016/j.jsg.2017.06.005

Krabbendam, M., Glasser, N.F., 2011, Glacial erosion and bedrock properties in NW Scotland: abrasion and plucking, hardness and joint spacing, Geomorphology, 130(3-4), 374-383. 10.1016/j.geomorph.2011.04.022

Ladeira, F.L., Price, N.J., 1981, Relationship between fracture spacing and bed thickness, Journal of Structural Geology, 3(2), 179-183. 10.1016/0191-8141(81)90013-4

Laubach, S.E., Lamarche, J., Gauthier, B.D.M., Dunne, W.M., Sanderson, D.J., 2018, Spatial arrangement of faults and opening-mode fractures, Journal of Structural Geology, 108, 2-15. 10.1016/j.jsg.2017.08.008

Manzocchi, T., 2002, The connectivity of two-dimensional networks of spatially correlated fractures, Water Resources Research, 38(9), 1162. 10.1029/2000WR000180

Morley, C.K., Nixon, C.W., 2016, Topological characteristics of simple and complex normal fault networks, Journal of Structural Geology, 84, 68-84. 10.1016/j.jsg.2016.01.005

Narr, W., Suppe, J., 1991, Joint spacing in sedimentary rocks, Journal of Structural Geology, 13(9), 1037-1048. 10.1016/0191-8141(91)90055-N

Nixon, C.W., Nærland, K., Rotevatn, A., Dimmen, V., Sanderson, D.J., Kristensen, T.B., 2020, Connectivity and network development of carbonate-hosted fault damage zones from western Malta, Journal of Structural Geology, 141, 104212. 10.1016/j.jsg.2020.104212

Nyberg, B., Nixon, C.W., Sanderson, D.J., 2018, NetworkGT: a GIS tool for geometric and topological analysis of two-dimensional fracture networks, Geosphere, 14(4), 1618-1634. 10.1130/GES01595.1

Odling, N., Gillespie, P., Bourgine, B., Castaing, C., Chiles, J., Christensen, N., Fillion, E., Genter, A., Olsen, C., Thrane, L., 1999, Variations in fracture system geometry and their implications for fluid flow in fractures hydrocarbon reservoirs, Petroleum Geoscience, 5(4), 373-384. 10.1144/petgeo.5.4.373

Ortega, O.J., Gale, J.F.W., Marrett, R., 2010, Quantifying diagenetic and stratigraphic controls on fracture intensity in platform carbonates: an example from the Sierra Madre Oriental, northeast Mexico, Journal of Structural Geology, 32(12), 1943-1959. 10.1016/j.jsg.2010.07.004

Pérez-Flores, P., Veloso, E., Cembrano, J., Sánchez-Alfaro, P., Lizama, M., Arancibia, G., 2017, Fracture network, fluid pathways and paleostress at the Tolhuaca geothermal field, Journal of Structural Geology, 96, 134-148. 10.1016/j.jsg.2017.01.009

Pollard, D.D., Aydin, A., 1988, Progress in understanding jointing over the past century, Geological Society of America Bulletin, 100(8), 1181-1204. 10.1130/0016-7606(1988)100<1181:PIUJOT>2.3.CO;2

Procter, A., Sanderson, D.J., 2018, Spatial and layer-controlled variability in fracture networks, Journal of Structural Geology, 108, 52-65. 10.1016/j.jsg.2017.07.008

Rustichelli, A., Iannace, A., Girundo, M., 2015, Dolomitization impact on fracture density in pelagic carbonates: contrasting case studies from the Gargano Promontory and the Southern Apennines (Italy), Italian Journal of Geosciences, 134(3), 556-575. 10.3301/IJG.2014.43

Sanderson, D.J., Nixon, C.W., 2015, The use of topology in fracture network characterization, Journal of Structural Geology, 72, 55-66. 10.1016/j.jsg.2015.01.005

Sanderson, D.J., Nixon, C.W., 2018, Topology, connectivity and percolation in fracture networks, Journal of Structural Geology, 115, 167-177. 10.1016/j.jsg.2018.07.011

Sanderson, D.J., Peacock, D.C.P., Nixon, C.W., Rotevatn, A., 2019, Graph theory and the analysis of fracture networks, Journal of Structural Geology, 125, 155-165. 10.1016/j.jsg.2018.04.011

Singhal, B.B.S., Gupta, R.P., 2010, Applied hydrogeology of fractured rocks, Springer Science and Business Media, 408p. 10.1007/978-90-481-8799-7

Son, H., Kim, Y.S., 2020, Potential applications of fracture characterization based on topology, Poster session presented at the 2020 Fall Joint Conference of the Geological Sciences, Korea.

Wennberg, O.P., Svånå, T., Azizzadeh, M., Aqrawi, A.M.M., Brockbank, P., Lyslo, K.B., Ogilvie, S., 2006, Fracture intensity vs. mechanical stratigraphy in platform top carbonates: the Aquitanian of the Asmari Formation, Khaviz Anticline, Zagros, SW Iran, Petroleum Geoscience, 12(3), 235-246. 10.1144/1354-079305-675

Information

Publisher :Korean Society of Engineering Geology
Publisher(Ko) :대한지질공학회
Journal Title :The Journal of Engineering Geology
Journal Title(Ko) :지질공학
Volume : 31
No :1
Pages :1-17
Received Date : 2021-02-09
Revised Date : 2021-02-28
Accepted Date : 2021-03-02
DOI :https://doi.org/10.9720/kseg.2021.1.001

The Journal of Engineering Geology ISSN:1226-5268(Print) 2287-7169(Online) 지질공학

All Issue